How Basquiat transformed his sources and brought a raw, fresh energy to the art of painting Jean-Michel Basquiat's (1960-88) formal vocabulary was inspired by the precedents of Picasso, Matisse and Twombly; he drew overtly on their fondness for primary colors, fragmented subjects, disturbing faces, dissonant colors and forms, and crudely crafted compositions or objects. Like them, he eschewed virtuosity and appealed instead...